Guardians Of The Galaxy #20 Review.
The long await answers of the events that took place in the Cancerverse are finally answered in this week's issue of Guardians of The Galaxy.
The Good
This issue picks up where issue #19 left off. Thanos, Drax,Star-Lord and an injured Nova taking on the Revengers, with the Cosmic Cube up for grabs. Ed Mcguinness art continues to amaze me, as he was able to give both Nova and The Revengers some sleek art work in the past few issues. I was never a fan of Drax's look as the Destroyer, but Mcguinness makes it work. Up until this issue, I felt that Bendis had not done justice to the character of Nova. Sure, Nova is in the story, but he hasn't made his presence made other than getting a good shot in at Thanos during issue 18. I mean come on, give me Richard yelling "Blue Blazers!" at least once. But Bendis actually delivers in this issue as we get a moving and emotional speech from Richard. The explanation of why Peter, Drax and even Thanos escaping the Cancerverse, Nova not being able to escape and why the secret was kept from the rest of the Guardians is explained and it makes sense. The issue also sets up some interesting new dynamics for the next few issues, as the team must rally together and either trust each other or walk away from the team. I'm actually interested in the way the team heads forward after this arc.
The Bad
The pacing of the books have been one of my biggest problem. All three issues felt similarly structured. We start off with an intense battle, a brief pause for some planning on how to escape the Cancerverse, and back to fighting the bad guys. The explanations of how the Revengers are still alive and kicking isn't explained or touched on, since in the Thanos Imperative we did see death do away with all life in the Cancerverse. Spoiler for this one, my biggest problem with this book was Nova's declaration of love for Gamora. No I'm not against love, but I find it strange that Bendis would go in this directions seeing as the issues take place during The Thanos Imparative story line, the same story arc where Richard had just rescued Namorita during Realm Of Kings. Nova and Namorita were a couple again so I just find it strange that Bendis would go in that direction. Of course my finally jab is that we get no explanation of why Quill's hair was changed, it's minor I know, but I'm picky that way.
The Verdict
Bendis has teased us before, saying that the books would cause Nova fans to be happy, sad, and angry. Being a big Nova fan myself, and the reason why I'm writing this review, I'm actually quite pleased with the ending of the book. While many people have been predicting that this will kill of the character forever, Bendis leaves a glimpse of hope for a certain character to come back.
